Aramco to acquire a 40% stake in Gas & Oil Pakistan

Aramco, one of the world’s leading integrated energy and chemicals companies, signed definitive agreements to acquire a 40% equity stake in Gas & Oil Pakistan Ltd, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

GO, a diversified downstream fuels, lubricants and convenience stores operator, is one of the largest retail and storage companies in Pakistan. The transaction is subject to certain customary conditions, including regulatory approvals.

The planned acquisition is Aramco’s first entry into the Pakistani fuels retail market, advancing the Company’s strategy to strengthen its downstream value chain internationally.

This transaction would enable Aramco to secure additional outlets for its refined products and further provide new market opportunities for Valvoline-branded lubricants, following Aramco’s acquisition of the Valvoline Inc. global products business in February 2023.

Mohammed Y. Al Qahtani, Aramco Downstream President, said: “Our second planned retail acquisition this year aligns with Aramco’s downstream expansion strategy, with a clear path ahead for growing an integrated refining, marketing, lubricants, trading and chemicals portfolio worldwide. GO has a significant storage capacity, high-quality assets and growth potential, which will help launch the Aramco brand in Pakistan.”

We remind, ExxonMobil Catalysts and Licensing LLC has licensed its advanced fluid bed Methanol-to-Gasoline technology to Aramco for a demonstration scale unit to be located in NEOM’s Hydrogen Innovation and Development Center (HIDC).

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China's largest commercial underground oil reserve project, backed by China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), has started construction in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang Province, according to Globaltimes.

The Daxie commercial oil reserve, designed with a capacity of 3 million cubic meters, will receive a total investment of nearly 3 billion yuan ($420 million). It is scheduled to be completed by 2026, China Energy News reported.

After completion, it will provide a stable supply of crude oil to cities and provinces in East China and along the Yangtze River. The project holds significant importance for further promoting development of local economies, addressing any unexpected events in energy supply, and also enriching the digital transformation practices in the energy industry.

The project has been independently designed and constructed by CNOOC. It encompasses 3 million cubic meters of underground crude oil caverns, along with surface crude oil storage, transportation, and the supporting facilities. The underground crude oil caverns are able to operate maintenance-free for as long as 50 years.

Currently, China's commercial petroleum reserves primarily employ two methods: surface storage tanks and underground water-sealed caverns. In comparison to surface tanks, underground water-sealed caverns are generally constructed at a certain depth below the surface, ensuring their safety and reliability.

We remind, Nigeria's state-owned oil company NNPC Ltd said on Thursday it had renewed a production sharing contract with Total, China National Offshore Oil Corp and others, a major step to resolving disputes on a deepwater oil block in the Niger Delta.

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Sinopec Yangzi Petrochemical is planning to construct a polyolefin project including polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, according to a company document.

Major plants will have a 350,000 tonne/year high density polyethylene (HDPE), a 300,000 tonne/year metallocene linear low-density polyethylene (MLLDPE) and a 400,000 tonne/year PP line.

The CNY6.7bn investment will be implemented in the company’s existing production site.

Ethylene and propylene feedstock will come from BASF-YPC in the same city.

We remind, Sinopec said it has signed an equity agreement with Kazakh state-owned oil and gas firm KazMunayGaz for a 30% stake in a planned polyethylene project in Kazakhstan. The project has a design capacity of 1.25 million metric tons per year and is located in western Kazakhstan’s Atryau region, the statement said.

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Firefighters on Wednesday were battling a fire at Marathon Petroleum's (MPC.N) 593,000 barrel-per-day Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas City, Texas, said Reuters.

"All employees have been accounted for and there have been no injuries," spokesperson Jamal Kheiry said in a statement.

The fire was continuing to burn within a sour water tank at the Power 2 unit in the refinery, said two people familiar with plant operations.

Production would not be affected by the fire, the sources said. At about 4 p.m. CDT (2200 GMT) a fire was reported coming from a vent on a tank, which triggered an explosion in a second tank at the Power 2 unit, the sources said.

The firefighters are developing a plan to extinguish the fire that continues to burn in the second tank. Kheiry said monitoring did not detect any impact on air quality outside the refinery.

We remind, ADM and Marathon Petroleum Corp celebrated the opening of their joint venture soybean processing complex, Green Bison Soy Processing, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The Green Bison facility in Spiritwood, ND, US, is the state's first dedicated soybean processing complex, and is a major step towards meeting increased demand for renewable fuels, in this case renewable green diesel. Green Bison Soy Processing will source and process local soybeans, with the resulting oil supplied exclusively to Marathon as a feedstock for renewable fuels. The facility will produce approximately 600 M lbs/y of refined soybean oil, enough feedstock for approximately 75 M gals/y of renewable green diesel.

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Russia's Sibur, the largest petrochemical producer in eastern Europe, said on Tuesday it plans to start issuing carbon credits outside Russia after reaching a deal at the COP28 climate summit to register a solar project with a new international program, said Reuters.

The agreement was struck with the Qatar-registered Global Carbon Council (GCC), which announced the launch of its carbon credit registry during the conference.

Sibur, which already trades carbon credits in its home market on a local exchange, will become the first Russian firm to issue carbon credits under an international program since Russia established its own system for emissions trading in 2022.

The company plans to issue around 18,000 carbon credits - permits representing emissions cuts from climate action projects that allow the owner to offset their own discharges.

It said its solar power plant with 10,080 solar panels has a capacity of 4.9 megawatts and takes up an area of more than 8 hectares.

We remind, IBUR has completed its first deal to sell carbon offsets produced as part of a climate project at ZapSibNeftekhim. The deal helped QIWI, a leading provider of new generation payment and financial services, fully offset its 2022 GHG emissions (Scope 1 and 2).

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